Harry stared into space from his position on his bed. He had gone to talk to Professor Dumbledore earlier that day. They had finally explained to him the reason for why he was famous. He didn’t feel so good about himself anymore. His mother had died to save him. Why though? Why would someone want to murder him in the first place?

He tried not to think about his time at his aunt and uncles, but it was hard not to. They had beaten him all the time. At first he thought it was because of the magic. He had been told that his aunt and uncle didn’t understand his powers, so that’s why they had done it. Now he wasn’t so sure anymore. His mother had been his aunt’s sister. That meant that she was angry with him.

“Harry, son?” Severus called through the door as he knocked.

Harry ignored him. They had all lied to him. He really was a freak. A wizard had come after him to kill because he was an abnormal freak! Professor Dumbledore wouldn’t tell him why the wizard had been after his family or why he had wanted to kill Harry. It was because he was a terrible child, and the wizard knew that. His aunt had been angry with him for getting her sister killed, so they had beaten him… and he had deserved it.

“Harry?” Severus opened the door now. “I have dinner ready.”

Harry just stared at him. How could that man still love and care about him? Why did all those other people love him but his aunt and uncle couldn’t? They seemed to have forgiven him for letting his mother die, but if his aunt and uncle didn’t then that meant he was bad, right?

“Come on son, talk to me, what are you thinking?” Severus asked.

Harry continued to stare at him. He wouldn’t talk. If he started to talk, the man who he considered as a father would comfort him, and he didn’t deserve it. Freaks didn’t deserve love. They deserved to be beaten and locked up. He turned his head away from Severus and stared at the window. An owl swooped down in front of the window.

“I know what you heard today was hard to hear about, but it’s all right,” Severus said. “I know I’m not your real father, but you’ve been calling me that for days. I’m willing to be your father.”

Severus had never said anything like that to him before. Harry would have liked to hear it before, but now he didn’t want to. Professor Dumbledore believed that his real father had been killed first before the Lord Voldemort man went after his mother. She had stepped in front of the cot to save Harry, but he killed her. Then when he tried to kill him, the curse had backfired onto its owner. He should have died along with his parents. His mother shouldn’t have protected a freak like him.

Severus reached over and easily picked Harry up, even though he didn’t like to be carried. He didn’t say a word though, even when he was taken down the stairs and into the kitchen. He refused to eat a bite of his food.

“I’ll feed you myself if you don’t eat,” Severus said. “I don’t think you want me to treat you like a baby do you?”

Harry just stared at him. Then he took his hand and hit the plate of food onto the floor hard. The plate smashed and food scattered every where. He then got up and ran. He heard Severus cursing, but he didn’t say anything. He wanted to prove to him that he was just as bad as his aunt and uncle had said he was.

Later, when he fell asleep, he had a dream about them. He hadn’t dreamt about them for years.

“You smash my plate will you?” Severus shouted. “That’s it, I am sick of you. I lied earlier. I hate that you called me daddy. I don’t want you. It’s your fault that your parents are dead! You are going back to your aunt and uncles place.”

Harry pleaded with him. He was sorry.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have smashed the plate!” he said.

It was too late; he was already back at his aunt and uncles. They were a lot bigger than they used to be.

“Beat him,” Severus told Uncle Vernon.

Harry stared up at him with his mouth open. Tears were streaming down his cheeks. He had promised! Severus had said that he’d never have to see his aunt and uncle again.

He had remembered that Severus had asked for the Dark Lord to spare Lily’s life. He hadn’t told Harry that, but he had explained to the boy that the Dark Lord had likely killed James first, and then proceeded to kill Harry. Lily had tried to stop him from doing it.

“Wait, Voldemort wasn’t going to kill my mummy. Is that what you mean?”

“It’s just a theory, but I think that he wouldn’t have killed her. He was just going to kill you.”

“Why me? I was just a baby,” Harry asked.

“That will have to wait until you’re older, when you are ready for it. I know you do not wish to wait, but I’ll know when you’re ready.”

Didn’t the Headmaster understand that he had given Harry too much information? This wasn’t an adult he was talking to, but an eight-year-old boy who had spent four years believing that he was a freak. It had taken them a long time to convince him that he wasn’t one, and now it appeared they were back to square one.

Severus ran up the stairs as Harry screamed even louder. The boy hadn’t had nightmares since he was six. When he entered the room, he saw that it was worse than any dream the boy had ever had. He was thrashing around on his bed. He looked as if he had been possessed as his back arched up and he let out another terrible scream.

“Harry!” Severus said and grabbed a hold of him. “Come on, wake up, wake up.”

It took a few minutes, but finally Harry opened his eyes. Severus lit the candles in the room and looked down into his son’s face. The boy was sobbing very hard.

“Daddy, daddy, why? Why?”

“Why what?” Severus asked.

Despite the fact that the boy was in distress, it felt good to hear him call him daddy. Severus had felt thrilled on Harry’s birthday when he heard that.

“You took me back!” Harry cried. “You said I’d never have to go back!”

He knew that Harry meant by that without having to ask.

“I’ll never take you back to those people, Harry. I’ve told you that enough times now. They are in jail. Now, tell me what happened, please.”

Harry explained that Severus had taken him back to the Dursley’s. His uncle had taken a belt and whipped him on his back, he made sure to hit with the belt buckle. His aunt had picked him up and thrown him down the stairs and then they had locked him in the cage in the basement.

The Dursley’s had done all that to Harry when he had lived with them.

“I’m sorry! Sorry for throwing the plate on the floor!”

“While I’m angry that you did that, I would never send you back to them. Obviously you are upset about what you heard today. Now go back to sleep, Harry. It’s all right. We’ll talk more about the plate throwing later.”

“No!” Harry said in a frightened voice. “Let me stay with you, please!”

“All right,” he sighed.

He was about ready to go to bed anyway. Although Harry was eight, he was still very light, and still very small. He was about the size of a five or six-year-old. This upset the boy a lot because he just wanted to grow taller. It always upset him that he was smaller than what he should be. Severus walked through the house, cradling the boy as if he were a three-year-old and turned off all the lights.

Long ago, Harry had told him that he didn’t like to be carried around, but tonight seemed to be an exception.

The next day, Severus was woken early by Fawkes the Phoenix. Immediately he was alarmed. Dumbledore only sent the Phoenix when it was an emergency. Quickly, he woke up Harry and told him to get dressed. The boy seemed to still be upset about the events of the other day, but did as he was told.

Severus quickly got dressed and made breakfast. When Harry still wasn’t down the stairs, he went up to get him. He found the boy crying by the wall where they marked his growth progress.

“I’m still the same height since I last grew!” Harry sobbed.

“Harry, it takes time. You might not believe it, but you’ve grown a lot over the past three years. Madam Pomfrey told me that you are growing at a normal rate now.”

“But I’m always going to be shorter than everyone else!” Harry whined. “I’m always going to be a freak!”

Severus froze; he hadn’t heard the boy call himself that in a long time. They didn’t have time for this, but they could just leave without talking first.

“What have I told you about calling yourself that?” Severus asked.

“Then why am I not as tall as a normal eight-year-old?” Harry asked as the tears streamed down his cheeks. “Even Ginny Weasley is taller than me!”

“You stopped growing when you lived with your aunt and uncle, as we’ve told you. Now you are growing again, and you’ve grown at a good rate. Just look at this!”

Severus pointed to a lower line on the wall.

“That’s where you stood when we first came here, and keep in mind that you grew about two inches or so before we measured you. Now you are all the way up here-” and he pointed to a line that they had drawn after they had come home from Hogwarts. There was a good gap between the two lines, and there were many lines on the wall “you have grown a lot Harry. You will also keep growing, but it’s going to take time. Madam Pomfrey believes that you will shoot up when you are a teenager, so don’t worry.”

He grabbed the boy by the hand and led him down the stairs. He silently cursed the Dursley’s as they went. It all went back to them. Harry should have been taller but because they had starved him, he wasn’t.

“We’re going to Hogwarts,” Severus informed him once they were in the sitting-room.

He grabbed the pot that held the floo powder.

“Take a handful; we’re going to Dumbledore’s office.”

Harry nodded, he was still silently crying. As soon as he disappeared through the floo, Severus went through next. After a few minutes of spinning, he stepped out of the Headmaster’s fireplace. Remus Lupin was there was well; Harry was giving him a hug.

“I summoned Remus to come watch Harry while we talked,” Albus told him.

Although Severus still hated Remus, he had managed to be friendly around the man the past three years. He quickly explained in a whisper about what had happened the night before.

“I plan to take Harry to Hogsmeade today,” Remus said. “We’ll be back shortly.”

“Bye Severus,” Harry said.

Severus didn’t want to show that he was hurt because the boy didn’t refer to him as daddy. He had hoped this would happen more frequently. He sighed and sat down into a chair. Albus had a very serious look on his face.

“So how is he? He seemed quiet last night when you left,” the Headmaster said.

“Not good. He had a nightmare about his aunt and uncle last night. He was quiet all day yesterday and he threw a plate across the room. You shouldn’t have gone into so much detail yesterday. I thought we were just going to tell him what he needed to know. Your theory might not even be right,” Severus said.

“You and I both know that it is probably is true. You were very sure that he would spare Lily’s life,” Albus said.

Severus didn’t want to think about that night.

“You said you didn’t want to tell him anything that he was too young to understand about,” he said instead.

“I meant the prophecy. I do not plan to tell him about that until he is much older. That is not why I called you here of course. It appears that the boy’s aunt and uncle left Azkaban last night.”

Severus stared at him. No one could break out of Azkaban, it wasn’t possible. If a wizard couldn’t break out, then how did two non-magical people do it? Before he could ask, Dumbledore explained that someone must have taken them out to torture and kill them. Apparently Petunia’s body was found. From the looks of it, the person had tortured her and then killed her.

“But they would know who broke into Azkaban!” Severus said.

He believed that Petunia and Vernon got what they deserved, but it still shocked him that someone had gotten into Azkaban and took them out.

“That’s why I believe it’s an inside job,” Albus said. “Someone who has the authority to keep it all quiet, they would have to because you know the Dementors. Whoever did it still has Vernon Dursley. At the moment I fear for Dudley Dursley’s life. I would like you to get him from the orphanage we place him at.”

“Surely someone wouldn’t torture a child? This person must be doing it because of who Harry Potter is,” Severus said. “Besides, I don’t want that child near Harry.”

“I will find someone to take care of him until the culprit is caught,” Albus answered. “For now, we must keep the innocent safe. Whoever did this might attack the whole family out of revenge for what happened to Harry.”

“Do you have any theories on who it might be?” Severus asked.

Albus shook his head gravely. Severus still didn’t feel anything for the two adult Dursley’s. Secretly, he hoped that whoever had Vernon was torturing him as they spoke. He deserved it for what he did to Harry. However, Dumbledore was right; Dudley was just an innocent child. He only repeated his family’s actions.

“All right, I’ll get the boy. Remember, I don’t want Harry to even see him,” Severus said.

While they waited for Severus and Harry to come to the office, Albus had explained that the boy knew everything now. It wasn’t really a shock that he’d had a nightmare about his aunt and uncle again. All the boy did was nod but he stared down at his feet.

“You know that Severus would never send you away, don’t you?” Remus asked.

He had been angry three-years-ago when he found that Severus was Harry’s guardian. James and Lily would not have wanted that. However, he had seen the way the man was with the boy. They actually made a good pair. Anyone else would have spoiled him too much. Harry was a good child, and not the least bit arrogant.

“Yes,” he answered.

“Good, and I hope you know that you have a lot of people who love you.”

“Why though?” Harry asked. “My mummy died because of me.”

“No, she didn’t. She died because of Lord Voldemort. He killed a lot of people, not just your parents. He was an evil man and thanks to you, he is dead.”

“But he wanted to kill me because I’m a freak. My aunt and uncle were right all along!” Harry protested. “Why else would someone want to kill a baby? Why else would they hurt me all the time?”

“Lord Voldemort killed a lot of women and children for no reason at all! He wanted to kill Albus Dumbledore, and you know he is a good man. You were just an innocent baby, and your parents were innocent victims. I’ve told you about how he felt about Muggles and Muggleborns during our classes! I thought you understood all of that,” Remus said.

He had wanted to wait until Harry was older, but there were a lot of children who knew the story. Over time, the teachers at Hogwarts had found families that had kids for Harry to play with. They soon learned that it was time to tell the boy everything. Remus taught him what he needed to know in classes, while Severus and Dumbledore were supposed to tell him what really happened to his parents.

“I never knew when my birthday was,” Harry said. “No one told me and then one day I found out I was four when I went to the hospital and I didn’t even know I had been three! No one told me nothing. One day she told me I was turning five. She told me and I thought maybe we would do something for my birthday. Why else would she tell me when it was? I was excited for it. Then it came and there were presents but Uncle Vernon gave them to Dudley. He spanked me and said it was a birthday spanking but it hurt a lot like a normal one. It went on for a long long time! Then he locked me in a cage in the basement and Remus I think they were going to lock me down there forever!”

Remus had heard about this from Dumbledore and Severus. They had even let him see some of Harry’s memories, and what those people had done to Harry was sick. He was glad that Petunia had been tortured and killed, and he hoped the same was happening to Vernon. They had no right to do that to an innocent child. He didn’t want to think about how James and Lily would have reacted.

“Did they lock you down there often?”

“No, but sometimes I heard Uncle Vernon tell Aunt Petunia that he wanted to lock me up forever. I thought maybe it was my cupboard, but after my birthday I thought it might be the cage. If I am not bad and if I am not a freak then why would people who were my family want to hurt me? Aunt Petunia was my mum’s sister. That means she knew I was a freak and that’s why she hurt me. She knew that’s why the man went after me. She was angry that it was her sister instead of me. That’s why they wanted to lock me up forever. That’s why I wasn’t allowed to have a name. They told me I didn’t deserve a name and it’s because of that man, isn’t it?”

“No,” Remus said.

They were still in the corridors of the castle. He knelt down in front of Harry and hugged him tightly. He hated everything that had to happen to James’ family. At one time they had been very happy, and then Lord Voldemort had to step in and wreck that. Sirius had to betray his best friends and destroy a happy family just because he’d never had one himself. That was why Harry was sent to live with people who abused him and changed his name.

“We explained this to you Harry. Your aunt and uncle were scared of magic. They didn’t understand it. Nobody who can do magic is a freak though. I also think your aunt might have been jealous of your mother. From what I remember, they didn’t have much to do with each other. I think Petunia wanted to pretend that it didn’t exist. She had no right to do what she did to you and neither did her husband.”

“But why couldn’t my own family love me? You said you love me, all the teachers love me, and the students at Hogwarts do too. Severus hasn’t told me he loves me, but I know he does. So why couldn’t people that were my family love me? If I am not bad, then why did they want to lock me in a cage forever? Why didn’t they do stuff for my birthday? Why-”

“Harry, they were just bad people. Lord Voldemort was an evil man for killing people. Your aunt and uncle were bad people for hurting you. There are people out there who do bad things to innocent people. Now you know I was friends with your parents, and let me tell you something. Those two loved you more than their own lives. Your father never wanted me to tell you this, but the moment he held you in arms the first time, he cried because he was happy. I had never seen that man cry once in all the years I knew him, not even after your mother told him she’d marry him! Your grandfather’s name was Harold so they named you Harry. Your dad gave you his name as your middle name. Neither your mother or father would be happy to know that you were abused.”

“But my aunt was my mum’s sister! She was my family and so she should have loved me,” Harry protested.

“Sometimes blood doesn’t make family. You have a big family that loves you now,” Remus said. “Never forget that. Your mother and father loved you a lot and I don’t want you to ever forget that either.”

Harry nodded at last, so Remus stood up and took him by the hand. There was no doubt in his mind; he was glad that the Dursley’s were getting what they deserved. He just wondered who their abductor was. It had to be someone who was smart enough to fool the Dementors and the Ministry.